Modern Day Rapunzel
by BlueNBlackRoses
Summary: All her life she stared at the same four walls, walked on the same floor and saw the same person. But now her life is different, now her life had him in it, and she can't tell if he's truly going to keep her alive, or if it's all just a game...
_Hello my lovelies! So been quite awhile since I've been on here has it not? Well I hate to say it but I was never really a batman fan until I bought the Dark Knight Trilogy and holy heck! Heath Ledger did quite the bang up job and quickly became my favorite. So of course I had to write a little snippet! So remember to review cause they made the world go round! Enjoy!_

 _"Why are you doing this to me?" Her sobs echoed out through the dimly lit room while droplets of wetness stained the floor with sadness. "I-I've not done anything! Just let me go home! I-I want my mommy!" The tiny girl scooted across the floor in her damp summer dress as a man came forward with something metal gleaming in his hand. He grabbed her right leg roughly and clamped a metal cuff around her ankle, locking it with a key and glaring at her for being such a pain already. The cuff was attached to a long chain which in turn was attached to a giant block of concrete in the corner. No way could a girl of her size and age even attempt to move it._

 _"You are home now, girl. Get used to it." The door slammed harshly and she was left alone, her only comfort being the single bulb hanging from the ceiling and flickering sporadically. Fear consumed her, and her body shook frantically from the cold and from the fear. She was nine years old, taken from the streets that she roamed as a new homeless child._

 _She thought he was her savior coming to rescue her, but she was wrong. His eyes that held kindness in the rainy ally now held nothing but lust and want. Disgusting to have such thoughts towards a child. That was fifteen years ago..._

The rainy nights seemed forever long anymore. The pitter patter of droplets banging themselves against the window as she tried to sleep. Joslyn could hear the sirens from her barred window and she arose from her 'bed' to look outside. Memories of past days raced in her mind and she gave an audible sigh, eyes darting to the ally below and seeing nothing but rats and dumpsters. This was the normal for her.

"Just another dreary night in Gotham." The rain pattered against the glass window behind the bars, making a sound that was very soothing despite her current conditions. She cannot remember a time when she had parents. She was young when her captor 'saved' her from the streets and brought her here. An old apartment building that housed nothing but scum and homeless people. In other words it was abandoned and a secret hiding spot from the Gotham police. There was minimal electricity and she often wondered how the building has survived as long as it did. Even though it was abandoned, the building was far from normal. In fact it was very nice in most of the rooms, not that she would know. She was very rarely let out of her room. Once a month to bathe and that was it.

But her captor on the other hand was not in any sense of the word homeless. Had she not been abused and tortured by him, she may have found him as an attractive man. Hair slicked back with buzzed sides, always wearing a tailored suit and tie, and a voice like honey made him seem the proper gentlemen.

But no.

He was a vile man who had everyone fooled, including her in her younger days. But even as a vile and despicable man he never once took her in that way. May have made several advances on her but never took the time to truly degrade her. Perhaps that was what kept her a bay most of the days he tried, the fear of losing the one thing that she held so dear to her heart.

Joslyn jumped when she heard thunder strike loudly and when the lightning flashed she inched away from her window as it illuminated the dark room. She gave another sigh and went back to her makeshift bed. It was nothing more than a mattress and dingy sheet on top of it. She often wondered what her life would have been like had she not been captured. Other than books, all she had was the newspaper that kept her in the loop of Gotham. The Batman introduced himself and had made the city a better place, to everyone else at least. If Batman could find her then she would be happy, elated even. But no. It seems that no one really came to the ghetto parts of Gotham anymore.

Joslyn had to learn to care for herself from the moment she was thrown into this room. She made sad attempts to wash her 'clothes' and cleaned the room just to find something to do. But even with simple tasks her life was boring and full of pain and despair.

She jumped once again when she suddenly heard loud banging and yelling from the lower floors of the apartment. The homeless people never came upstairs, mostly because there was no need and many of them were too old to actually climb stairs, not to mention there was heat in numbers against the cold. She had very few visits from them and once they saw that there was nothing to gain from her, they let her be. The fact that her captor threatened them never to go up there didn't help either.

"Clear the place out! I don't want anyone left in here!" A man's voice quickly entered the old building and the sound of many shuffling feet were heard running everywhere.

"W-What?" She muttered out, panic starting to set in. Out of nowhere, the sound of screams tore through the building. "Shut them up! Hurry!" Came another voice. Whoever these people were, they weren't friendly and Joslyn felt a new type of fear rise within her.

"Help us! Please anyone help us!" Came the plea of an older lady's voice before she was cut off abruptly.

"O-Oh no. Gotta hide. Gotta hide!" Joslyn mumbled to herself, throwing her body in the darkest corner and placing a hand over her mouth to quiet herself and her breathing. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to think about the slaughter that was going on downstairs. _"Keep quiet, keep quiet and they won't come in here. Keep quiet and they will just walk by. Keep quiet and you won't be found. Just...keep...quiet."_ She thought to herself.

"I want every room in this building swept for clearance! I don't want a soul left!" Came the first male voice again. Joslyn heard footsteps getting closer to her door. Maybe they would pass it up since it had a large padlock on it. Or maybe that would just peak their interest?

The lesser of the two was suddenly known as Joslyn heard a group of voices. "Padlocked boss. Must be something special in this room. Lock's new compared to everything else."

"Well theeeeeen uh, let's open her up and see." Joslyn heard brutal kicking at her door and within three strong kicks, the door came flying open and a small illumination from the flickering hall lights made their way inside. In the nighttime her room was black as pitch with only one single candle providing any form of light other than the bulb that hung dangerously in the middle. She tried not to use it for fear that it would blow and she would catch something on ire due to the faulty wiring.

 _"The candle! I didn't blow out the candle! Oh no!"_

"Hmm, looks like we have uh, a little mouse hiding in here somewhere. Come on out...now." Joslyn could see the many men looking around the room, looking for her.

Looking around the dark room, he knew that something was off. The new lock, freshly lit candle and general tidiness of the room gave it all away. Either someone was living here off and on...or someone was in here now. Looking around the room, there was very little. A beat-up mattress and blanket, piles and piles of books, a desk and chair, and a small wardrobe that was hanging open with two or three clothing items in it. The wooden floors were swept nicely and the dull red wallpaper gave a sort of rustic charm to the single room. A door to the left, he guessed that it was a bathroom, was shut tightly.

"Hey boss...check this out." One of his men, that he named Grumpy, pointed at a large concrete block in the corner of the room. It had to weigh at least 200 pounds and it was a miracle that the thing hadn't fallen to the floor with all its weight.

"Lookie here boys!" The man walked over to the blocked and grabbed a thick chain in his hand that was concreted into said block. "Hmmmmm." He allowed his gloved hand to travel along the chain to another corner of the room. The chain suddenly twitched as he got closer and he looked back to his men with a grin on his face. Lunging forward he grabbed the person that was poorly hiding in the corner and a yelp left her body and she was plucked from her spot and sat in the middle of the room.

She fell in a heap and one of the men turned the light on for better sight. The light flickered a few times before making itself useful and Joslyn stood up quickly, trying to get away but being stopped by her ball and chain apparatus.

"Well hello gorgeous!" Joslyn may be sheltered, but she is allowed the newspaper and she knew exactly who this was.

The Joker, the new criminal of Gotham City and his band of lunatic goons.

Joslyn had lost her words as the Joker crept closer to her, grabbing her by the back of the neck and bringing her closer to him from the floor. His men laughed as they watched the terror of the girl sink in.

"P-Please let me go." She panted out, bringing her small arms up to push on the Jokers chest.

"Tsk, such a precious little voice you got there. Ah, what's your name, hmm?" The Joker could see that this girl wasn't here by choice. She was a prisoner to someone and she wasn't in good condition. Her frail body looked close to anorexic, her skin was white a snow and littered with scars, her cheeks caved in and her strength to fight him was near to nothing. Her hair that once probably held a shine was not a dull black and so long Joker wondered how she managed to tame it. And her eyes, oh that was what got him. Her eyes held a fire that he hadn't seen in a very long time, despite their watery appearance to him now.

Joslyn closed her eyes and continued her weak pushes against him, fear gripping at her as she breathed hard. "Aww...you look nervous? Tell me...is it the scars?" Joker asked the shivering girl in front of him and he gave a loud sigh, bringing her face close to his so he could whisper in her ear. "Open. Your. Eyes."

Giving out a steadying breath, Joslyn tightened her grip now on his arm and slowly opened her eyes, her emerald ones staring into brown orbs as she did so. "There we go. Now you can look at my pretty face too." Joke shook his head slightly and quickly licked his lips before smiling at her.

He was nothing pretty in her eyes. A white face with blackened eyes and a sickly red smile was painted onto his face. Greasy green hair dangled in front of his eyes as he stared at her, his eyes traveling up and down her body like she was a piece of meat. She knew that she was scantily clad, but what could she do? The dress she wore was so old that it was fraying at the bottom and had hole galore in it. ANd her situation with underwear was virtually non-existent.

"Now, as I was saying. Do you want to know how I got these scars? Do you? Cause I looooove telling the story." Jokers breath was awful against her nose and she tried to reel away from him, scooting her feet against the floor and pushing again against him.

Joslyn shook her head back and forth in a no motion and his smile turned to a frown. He brought up his other hand and began to caress her face before giving it a warning tap . "You know, I don't like it when people tell me no." Joker quickly grabbed a fistful of her hair and began tugging her head backwards. Nothing to painful but to her it wasn't the pain, it was the fear.

"Yes! Yes! I want to know! I-I want to know!"

Suddenly Joslyn fell to the ground once more and she quickly beamed her head to look at him. She shakily stood as he walked back over to his men while saying, "Maybe another time." With those final words, the Joker ushered his men out of the room and down the stairs, leaving her just standing there as frightened as they day she was captured.


End file.
